The Jasmine Movement in China

Last sunday, the people of China briefly came together in a loosely organized protest in hopes of sparking a Jasmine Revolution in their country. Unfortunately, the Chinese government worked swiftly and fiercely to crush the small uprising before it could gain any steam. The organizers of this event communicated through Twitter and other social networking sites active in Asia.

Initially, 13 protest locations were staged in different cities all around China. The participants were supposed to gather in these areas and stage their demonstrations. Instead, the areas were filled with police and government forces, waiting to see who would come out and protest. As a result, those who did show up and protest were arrested and taken away by the Communist government. Many lawyers and activists are still in government custody, while the whereabouts of the others are unknown.

The protest last week was unorganized and easily quelled by the government. That is why this week, the organizers are asking the people to do it again. This sunday, like last week, the Chinese people are asked to come out and show their support for a free and democratic China. Not only that, the organizers are calling upon the citizens to do it every sunday, until a genuine movement can be achieved.

What the democratic activists are doing in China right now has the potential to be big. Though the Chinese Communist government has a tight grip on the flow of information, their excessive use of force shows how terrified they are of what can potentially happen. Imagine if China, the biggest of the remaining Communist countries finally collapsed to the democratic movement, what that would mean for all the dictatorships across the world.

The democratic movement in China is small right now, and as always, only time will tell if it can overcome the power of Communist totalitarianism. It is without a doubt that the Communist police are stationed in all of the protest locations, preparing to squash another uprising before it gets out of control. The police states of Vietnam and China specialize in crackdowns and repressions, so we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out. With that said, our moral and emotional support still goes out to all the freedom fighters out there. Democracy now!

Actually, people did show up to the protests. It wasn’t much, but some people did come out to demonstrate against the Chinese government, and they aren’t just “troublemakers.” I read in a NY Times article that the government has been cracking down against a lot of people who are lawyers and democratic advocates. NOT just “troublemakers” !